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Wednesday, 4 December 2013

REVIEW: TOKYO GORE POLICE (DVD)

In the near future, the Tokyo Police Corporation is locked
in bloody war with the “engineers”, genetically modified super-criminals who
bio-fuse their open wounds with weapons of mass-destruction. Ruka (Audition’s
Eihi Shiina) is the daughter of the police chief’s murdered right hand man, she
also happens to be the top police corporation engineer hunter. Along the way
she cuts through psychotic engineers with cold-blooded efficiency and maybe,
just maybe, discovers the truth about her father’s murder.

Tokyo Gore Police oozes carnage from every pore. So much so,
it loses the ability to shock early on. Barely a minute goes by without some
kind of head explosion, decapitation, dismemberment or severed limb disrupting
proceedings. Probably a good thing, because story wise, Tokyo Gore Police
really doesn’t have an awful lot to say. The production values are quite low,
giving the film a made for TV vibe. Fortunately, the same can’t be said for the
special effects, which are stunning throughout.

Eihi Shiina was a disappointment in the lead role as well. I
thought she was extraordinary in Takashi Miike’s Audition but her character
here is muted and dull. Asami Yamazaki was a delirious creation, overflowing with
pent up menace and rage. I would have liked to see a little more emotion, maybe
a dry sense of humour in keeping with the tone of the movie, but for me she was
the most unmemorable part of the film.

The direction was found wanting too. The Machine Girl felt
like a stylish production because Noboru Iguchi knew how to make the most of a
limited budget. Yoshihiro Nishimura’s vision feels flat by comparison. The
action choreography, courtesy of Isao Karasawa, isn’t nearly as impressive
either. Creative camera work would have helped but it wasn’t to be.

So far, so negative then. Fortunately, Tokyo Gore Police has
more than one trick up its genetically modified sleeve. In a time of copious CGI
it’s easy to forget just how effective traditional special effects methods can
be. That’s not to say Tokyo Gore Police abandons modern methods entirely, but
the most impressive creations here aren’t born on the computer screen. If
you’ve seen the trailers you’ll know what I mean. Tokyo Gore Police is home to
some of the most perverse, twisted and immensely enjoyable cinematic creations
in horror.

The best scene of the movie takes place inside a fetish club
and it’s here that we meet my favourite characters. A human snail girl is
appealing, and what can best be described as a Japanese mermaid with added bite
makes the girl from Teeth look relatively tame. She’s absolutely fantastic and
deserves her own movie in my book; this is the kind of thing I tuned into
Japanese cinema for in the first place. I loved the pitch black humour too, featured
in the TV adverts and newsreel footage that accompany the main plot. Wrist
cutters anyone?

Tokyo Gore Police is an experience like no other (unless you
count the rest of the Sushi Typhoon cannon) and despite its many faults, remains
a very enjoyable night in. There is too much blood, too much gore and too much
invention to dismiss it out right, and even though Yoshihiro Nishimura misses
the mark on numerous occasions, he has created a viewing experience that takes
some forgetting.

The flaws of the finished film are obvious for all to
see but Tokyo Gore Police is a perverse journey to cinematic hell and back,
with pitch black humour and added bite. AW